STATE Representative James Talarico won the US Senate race in Texas on Tuesday, according to media projections, defeating President Donald Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton to end Democrats’ 32-year statewide losing streak and give his party a major boost in the battle for Senate control.

It was a striking Democratic breakthrough in a state Republicans have long dominated. Trump carried the state by 14 percentage points in 2024. Paxton, the Texas attorney general, has been at the center of controversies that include a 2023 impeachment and a securities fraud case.

Talarico, a four-term state legislator and one of the nation’s top Senate fundraisers, overcame heavy outside spending in the most expensive Senate race of the cycle. He began as an underdog against former US Representative Colin Allred, the 2024 Democratic Senate nominee, who later withdrew to run for Congress again.